Defective Crucial Ballistix PC-8500 RAM ??

[rezilientcom]

Need some help with this problem.

I initially bought a Gigabyte EP35C-DS3R motherboard and used it with 2gb Crucial Ballistix RAM. From day one I was not able to run a clean pass of memtest at 1066mhz or even 800mhz no matter what I set for the timings or voltage. I upgraded the BIOS on the mobo (to F2) and I was able to run memtest clean at 800mhz and 2.2V, but 1066mhz would still not fly. But the weird thing is if I run one stick at a time it runs fine, no memtest errors. So I figured the RAM is fine. After using the computer for a bit I began seeing BSOD and the BIOS would recover from disk upon reboot. I figured the board was bad, so I sent it back in exchange for a Asus P5K-E.

I received the new Asus board and the memory is unable to pass a clean memtest again (at 800mhz or 1066mhz, and 2.2V). I ran one stick at a time, this time the memtest is failing for each individual stick. So I'm pretty sure the RAM is bad.

I am sending the Crucial RAM in for replacement. But should I stay away from Crucial RAM and get something like Corsair and OCZ Platinum? I figure I don't even need 1066mhz since I've seen some tests indicating there is very little benefit from 1066mhz RAM.

Thanks.
Reza

 

[Shadow703793]

Its the motherboard not the RAM. DDR2 800 RAM seems like the native limit. P35 Gigabyte boards seems to have a problem with native DDR2 800+ RAM, but the native DDR2 800 can be OCed to the same level and it will work fine.

 

[rezilientcom]

I'm running an Asus P5K-E now, same problem. So I'd be shocked if this was the second bad mobo.

 

[buzznut]

I would say that crucial is fine, but that was before I had failures. I had one stick fail after 2 months of use, rma'd it and now have had another stick fail after another two months of use. These were DDR2 800 ballistix tracers, 2 GB kit. 4-4-4-12 EPP

I think Shadow is referring to both those boards being based on P35 chipsets? And the chipset has a pb with ram faster than ddr2 800 speeds?

Probably safe to go with corsair. But I am switching from crucial to Mushkin since I have had success with them in the past and they are a Colorado co. I understand they also use micron d9 chips for their epp memory.

 

[rezilientcom]

So I might just get PC-6400 in that case, since I've read there is very little benefit from the extra money spent on PC-8500. Is that a fair statement?

 

[Shadow703793]

^Yes, get DDR2 800 and OC it.

For some reason most P35 boards seems to have a problem with native DDR2 800+ RAM.

 

[olavxxx]

I too have problems, Abit Fatality FP-IN9 SLI mb (NF650i SLI chipset).
I've got Ballistix Tracer PC8500..

No matter what I set them too, I cant run a single clean memtest.
Get random BSOD, processes dying, corrupt files (happens a lot in steam games, so I have to redownload it many times)..

Yes, a lot of problems.. Not nice, I bought 2 x 2gb sets and thought this was sweet.

Does anyone know if they work better in NF680I? I'm considering swapping mainboard.

yeah, btw. I have tried IT ALL, 2.2V, different timings, auto timings, different clocks, synch or no synch with cpu, linked, unlinked, etc. nothing gives me a clean memtest